‘Civilizing Policing’? What can police-public consultation forums achieve for police reform, ‘democratic policing’, and police legitimacy?

Abstract: Considering police-public consultation forums as a device, or tactic, to ‘civilize’ policing, the possibilities and limitations of ‘civilizing policing’ using this method can be shown. Police-public consultation forums can ‘civilize’ policing – in the sense Loader and Walker (2007) use the term – by contributing to police reform, democratic policing, and police legitimacy. Using the case of Edinburgh, Scotland, the achievements of police-public consultation forums for reform, democratic policing, and legitimacy, are examined and an argument made that consultation forums can make positive contributions in each of these areas. However, the example of consultation forums also reveals significant conceptual and structural limitations to the ideas of reform, democracy, and legitimacy when applied to the police. These limitations are articulated using the social theory of Simmel, Weber, and Lukes: Simmel and Weber reveal the inflexibility and non-negotiable aspects of the police that defies reform and democratic ambitions; Lukes provides an important precautionary perspective on the ‘democraticness’ of democratic devices; and, comparing Lukes with the work of Weber provides a view on legitimacy that reveals advanced complexities to ‘police legitimacy’. In sum, police-public consultation forums contribute to ‘civilizing policing’, but it is also useful to reflect and consider the non-negotiable limits the ‘form’ of the police applies to possible positive change

Final report on the Safer in the Home program

There are now numerous examples of security companies being tasked to visit the homes of victims of family violence in order to perform safety assessments and make recommendations as to how to best alleviate forms of anxiety and insecurity that result from trauma and active threats (see Harkin 2017). Due to the unusual and experimental nature of using private security companies in this context, criminologist Dr Diarmaid Harkin (Deakin University) has been investigating the risks and potential benefits of such an approach. The work of Salvation Army Crossroads and Protective Services has been of particular interest to Dr Harkin since 2015. Between 2015 and 2017, both Salvation Army Crossroads and Protective Services were research participants in Dr Harkin’s investigation agreeing to numerous interviews and information-sharing about their respective activities. This research report outlines the results of that investigation

The uncertain commodity of ‘security’: Are private security companies ‘value for money’ for domestic violence services?

Reflecting on Loader and White ’s (2018) suggestion that the labour of private security workers is difficult to ‘commodify’, this paper uses original empirical data to show that there are four elements to what private security workers ‘do’ for victims of domestic violence when contracted by domestic violence advocacy services: they provide (a) practical ‘target-hardening’ measures, (b) ‘expert’ advice on security, (c) forms of ‘security therapy’ as workers talk clients through their safety-based anxieties and (d) forms of ‘security theatre’ as workers provide the appearance of providing security despite the efficacy often being unclear or uncertain. Each of these elements have significant risks that can threaten the interests of victims and domestic violence services. </jats:p

Simmel, the police form and the limits of democratic policing

&copy; 2015 The Author. I argue that the social theory of Georg Simmel can be used to illustrate certain limitations to the potential of democratic policing. Simmel makes a number of claims about trust, secrecy and accountability that are shown to have immediate relevance to my empirical case study of police-public consultation forums in Edinburgh, Scotland. Two particular aspects of the \u27form\u27 of the police-public relationship-the police\u27s command of non-negotiable force and inequality in the reciprocity of information-play a key role in limiting some of the principal aspirations of democratic policing theory. There are permanent barriers to improving the democratic credentials of the police I argue, yet positive and progressive change is still achievable

Police legitimacy, ideology and qualitative methods: a critique of procedural justice theory

I argue that there are unconsidered complexities to police legitimacy and use examples from my study of police&ndash;public consultation forums in Edinburgh, Scotland to illustrate. I make a number of conceptual and methodological critiques by drawing upon Steven Lukes&rsquo; social theory on power to show how legitimacy can be a product of authority relations as much as it is a cause of authority relations. This view finds support from systems-justification theory. I also tackle Beetham&rsquo;s conception of legitimacy and argue that there is evidence from police studies that the police breach his key antecedents to legitimacy without incurring the expected consequences. Furthermore, I take an original methodological approach to studying police legitimacy which reveals additional insights. For instance, Bottoms and Tankebe suggest legitimacy addresses multiple &lsquo;audiences&rsquo;; I would also add that it addresses multiple recipients as legitimacy is shown to vary among officers and positions of rank